The seerah is our roadmap for the akhirah
Orphan
The Prophet ﷺ was born as an orphan, having lost his father before his birth. It is a consolation to orphans that despite the fact he had no father he went on to achieve greatness and achieve a lot. It shows that having no father should not hold you back.
The definition of orphan is the one who has lost his father (not mother) and has not yet reached puberty. After puberty you are not considered an orphan, as only children can count as orphans in Islam.
Poverty and shepherding
The Prophet ﷺ was poor even though he belonged to the best tribe and had the best status. He was from the cream of the cream, but he inherited nothing. His uncle and grandfather were not that rich. This also shows us that poverty should not be an obstacle. The Prophet ﷺ did struggle as a poor person is what drove him to work as a shepherd while he was young. The life of a shepherd is not easy. You have to wake up early and you return after sunset having worked all day. Makkah is not a lush terrain – it’s the opposite. So it was a great deal of toil for a few pennies.
Business
In addition, he engaged in business from an early age, learning how to go the market and conduct deals, buy and sell and acquire new skills, different from shepherding, which would be very beneficial later on. It wasn’t that he had only one job, but learned many things. You need these when you have to face difficult scenarios.
Good character
He was well known for having good character (husn al khuluq), in particular for his truthfulness and trustworthiness, so he was called As Sadiq Al Amin.
In the Seerah there were many events that highlight this aspect of his personality such as when the Kabah was being rebuilt after flooding. However, when the structure was nearly complete, a serious dispute arose over who would have the honour of placing the Black Stone back into its position. Every clan wanted this honour. The argument, so the Quraysh agreed on a solution:
The first person to enter the Sacred Mosque the next morning would judge between them.
That first person was Muhammad ﷺ, who has not received the revelation yet. When they saw him, they said: “This is al-Amin. We accept his judgement.”
The Prophet ﷺ asked for a cloak. He spread it on the ground, placed the Black Stone in the centre, and then asked one leader from each clan to hold the edge of the cloak.
Together, they lifted the stone to the correct height. Then, with his own hands, the Prophet ﷺ placed the Black Stone into its position in the Kabah.
With his wisdom, he was good at conflict resolution.
Marriage to Khadija
In his twenties, Khadija (may Allah be pleased with her) decides to hire him who work for her. She was a business woman and very wealthy. She had been widowed twice before. The Prophet ﷺ multipled her profit, due to his good character and dealings. People trusted him and wanted to buy from him. We know afterwards that she proposed to him through a third party and he married her.
It is not true that she was in her forties and he was in his twenties. The authentic narrations show that there was at most a five to six year age gap between them. In some narrations she is only two years older than him.
In our times, there is a stigma attached to marrying a widow or divorcee, yet all the wives of the Prophet ﷺ with the exception of Aisha (may Allah be pleased with her) were widowed, or divorced and in this case even older than him. This shows us that we should be less judgemental when we come to choosing marriage partners. There is no discrimination.
Children
The mother of all the Prophet’s ﷺ children was Khadija (may Allah be pleased with her) with the exception of Ibrahim who was born to Maria the Coptic (may Allah be pleased with her). None of the male children survived, passing away in his lifetime. The wisdom behind this is that all the male children are usually prophets, but as Muhammad ﷺ was the last prophet, he could not be survived by a male child.
Revelation
When he was thirty nine and a half he started seeing true visions. There are four types of vision and one of these types is true. This is called Irhasat an Nabuwa, the preparation for prophethood. During that period he started visited the Cave of Hira. The word hira comes from the word hura which means seeking for the truth. He was fed up of the idols and the issues in society and so he would retreat to the cave to search for the truth.
This was the standard age for almost all prophets to be granted prophethood with two exceptions- Eesa and Yahyah (peace be upon him).
The challenge of changing reality
From this moment, the Prophet ﷺ began the toughest challenge – changing the reality around him. It is the hardest task you can have. The Prophet ﷺ received the revelation from Angel Jibril and now he had to change people from worshipping many idols to one God. They resisted it fiercely. They fought against it. We see the same. People refuse to change, especially when the change is related to reformation or clearing corruption or bringing justice. People who benefit from it oppose it vehemently.
This tactic has been used throughout history: dehumanising the group one wishes to silence. By stripping them of dignity and legitimacy, it becomes easier to justify oppression, violence, or exclusion against them.
They sought to discredit him by portraying him as mad and branding him a poet. If your capital is your reputation and it is destroyed, your business will drop to zero. This is what they tried to do. They started calling him a liar and magician, when they knew he wasn’t because they feared losing their business or status.
Siege
They fought him by attacking his reputation using the social media of the time. Their social media was poetry and word of mouth. They delivered plenty of attacks against him which intensified until he was driven out of Makkah and forced into the valley of Shiʿb Abi Talib, where he, his family and the believers were placed under siege in the seventh year. They were subjected to a brutal boycott, leaving them unable to obtain food or drink. Eventually, Allah releases them from this ordeal through a miracle and afterwards he lost Khadija who passed away and his uncle Abu Talib, his twin pillars of support. However Allah planned a great opening for him.
In the eleventh year, a delegation of six people who came from city Yathrib, to perform Hajj, accepted Islam without hesitation. They were open to the message because they lived side by side with Jews and were aware the Jews were waiting for a prophet. So when they met him, they knew it was him. This was in Mina, in a place called Aqaba, where they made a pledge. The lesson here is that a small people can create a great opening for others later.
People are usually quick to dismiss the efforts of a few, saying that it’s impossible to create change but if they have sincerity Allah can make them the catalysts of change.
The following year seventy two males and three females came from Madinah and accepted the pledge and the Prophet ﷺ was given the permission to migrate to Yathrib.
Establishing the state of Madinah
The first public address by theProphet ﷺ was:
َا أَيُّهَا النَّاسُ، أَفْشُوا السَّلَامَ، وَأَطْعِمُوا الطَّعَامَ، وَصِلُوا الْأَرْحَامَ، وَصَلُّوا بِاللَّيْلِ وَالنَّاسُ نِيَامٌ، تَدْخُلُوا الْجَنَّةَ بِسَلَامٍ
O people, spread peace (Salam), feed others, maintain family ties, and pray at night while people are asleep; you will enter Paradise in peace. (Tirmidhi)
The Prophet ﷺ established a constitution in Madinah to enable the different communities snd religions to coexist with harmony. He built the mosque, the economy and through his brotherhood (Al Muakhat) programme, he helped the migrants from Makkah integrate smoothly into the host community, now known as Madinah. He also implemented improvements to the environment and steadily created the state. It was a heavy task, but he was able to deliver it. In addition, he built the army and strengthened their military defence.
They faced many challenges, but Allah guided them and gave them victory until they eventually conquered Makkah.
After that the Prophet ﷺ went to perform Hajj in the tenth year after migration. Here, he delivered his Farewell Sermons in which he delivered the complete pillars of Islam and most important commands of Allah.
He built their characters, changed their mindset and showed them methodology. He built their spiritual connection with God, giving not just the knowledge but the criteria with which we should judge, replacing superstitions, culture and traditions with divine laws and justice. He delivered the Book of Allah and left us with his Sunnah.
Activate the seerah in your life
How do we activate his teachings in our life? By improving our character. Take a few traits at a time and start to reflect on them, rather than trying to change too many aspects as this becomes unmanageable. Monitor yourself and assess yourself.
Start by reading Imam al Suyuti’s Zahrul Khama’il which is an abridged account of Imam al Tirmidhi’s Shama’il, describing the character of the Prophet ﷺ. Then begin to improve the fifteen to sixteen qualities in your life, such as mercy, generosity, honesty, courage, modesty, control over our tongue etc. And work on reducing negative traits such as anger, and Hastings, which is from Shaytan for example.
The best mirror is the prophetic mirror. This is between you and Allah. We all have blindspots. Analyse your weaknesses, as we are not always aware of them. Only when we recognise the issue can we fix it. Ask trusted people around you what you lack. Your spouse can always highlight these. Work on yourself week by week.
The Prophet ﷺ said repeatedly that having good character is supremely important:
إِنَّ مِنْ أَحَبِّكُمْ إِلَيَّ وَأَقْرَبِكُمْ مِنِّي مَجْلِسًا يَوْمَ الْقِيَامَةِ أَحَاسِنَكُمْ أَخْلَاقًا
“The most beloved of you to me, and the closest of you to me on the Day of Resurrection, are those with the best character.” (Tirmidhi)
Having the best character is having gentleness, ease, and approachability. This was the character of our beloved Prophet ﷺ.
Let’s update the new version of ourselves by visiting the website of the Prophet ﷺ.
We ask Allah to enable us to follow his footsteps and benefit from his Seerah and implement it in our lives, not to escape our challenges but to face them with wisdom. Ameen.
Based on the talk delivered by Shaykh Haytham Tamim in Madinah December 2025.